The following description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Biofeedback is often described as using substantially near real-time feedback signals to modify autonomic physiological functions. For example, brain waves, heart rate, breathing rate, hand temperature etc. Some researchers have pushed the envelope further, to use substantially near real-time feedback signals to modify kinetic activities that are partially under voluntary control, for example, stuttering or other speech pathologies (Electronic anti-stuttering device providing auditory feedback and disfluency-detecting biofeedback U.S. Pat. No. 6,231,500 B1), intention tremors (Clinical Application of Biofeedback Treatment with a Microvibration Transducer, Journal of Experimental & Clinical Medicine Vol. 12 No. 5,6, pp, S19-324, 1987), cardiac arrhythmias (The Effects of Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Biofeedback on Heart Rate Variability and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms: A Pilot Study, Zucker, T. L., Samuelson, K. W., Muench, F. et al. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback (2009) 34: 135. doi:10.1007/s10484-009-9085-2), incontinence (Effect of Adding Biofeedback to Pelvic Floor Muscle Training to Treat Urodynamic Stress Incontinence, Mørkved, Siv MSc, P T; Bø, Kari PhD, P T; Fjørtoft, Toril P T, Obstetrics & Gynecology: October 2002-Volume 100-Issue 4-p 730-739), temporomandibular disorders (Efficacy of Biofeedback-Based Treatments for Temporomandibular Disorders, Crider, A., Glaros, A. G. & Gevirtz, R. N. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback (2005) 30: 333. doi:10.1007/s10484-005-8420-5) to name a few.
Still other researchers have used biofeedback techniques to deal with some cognitive patterns. Among other things, biofeedback techniques have been used to treat fear or anxiety (Neurofeedback in the Treatment of Developmental Trauma: Calming the Fear-Driven Brain” by Sebern F. Fisher. W. W. Norton & Company, New York, N.Y., 2014, 416 pages, ISBN: 978-0-393-70786-1), attention deficit (Attention Enhancement System using Virtual Reality and EEG Biofeedback, B. H. Cho; J. M. Lee; J. H. Ku; D. P. Jang; J. S. Kim; I. Y. Kim; J. H. Lee; S. I. Kim, Virtual Reality, 2002. Proceedings. IEEE), alcohol abuse (Sobriety Outcome After Alcoholism Treatment with Biofeedback Participation: A Pilot Inpatient Study, International Journal of the Addictions, M. R. Denney, Jarod L. Baugh & Henry D. Hardt, Volume 26, 1991-Issue 3, Pages 335-341), smoking (Sampling of empirically supported psychological treatments from health psychology: Smoking, chronic pain, cancer, and bulimia nervosa, Compas, Bruce E.; Haaga, David A. F.; Keefe, Francis J.; Leitenberg, Harold; Williams, David A., Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol 66(1), February 1998, 89-112.), insomnia (Biofeedback and Progressive Relaxation Treatment of Sleep-Onset Insomnia: A Controlled, All-Night Investigation, Robert Freedman and James D. Papsdorf, Biofeedback and Self-Regulation, VoL 1, No. 3, 1976.), pain (Pain management in rheumatoid arthritis patients, Parker, J. C., Frank, R. G., Beck, N. C., Smarr, K. L., Buescher, K. L., Phillips, L. R., Smith, Ed., Anderson, S. K., Walker, S. E., Arthritis & Rheumatology, Volume 31, Issue 5, May 1988, Pages 593-601.), and socially undesirable behaviors, as in for example, aggressive thoughts of sexual predators (Sexual recidivism among child molesters released from a maximum security psychiatric institution, Rice, Mamie E.; Quinsey, Vernon L.; Harris, Grant T., Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol 59(3), June 1991, 381-386.).
All publications herein are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply. All publications herein are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
Despite all of this focus on disease amelioration and psychophysical therapies, it appears that biofeedback has never been applied to assist with more everyday, common experiences, including for example guiding business meetings (Dynamic media augmentation for presentations, US 20090327896 A1.), assisting with invention brainstorming sessions ((Effects of Simulated Biofeedback and Human Monitoring on Brainstorming Performance, Graham, William K., The Journal of Social Psychology, Volume 101, 1977-Issue 1, Pages 139-143.), mediating disputes, helping people get to know each other, accelerate their learning (Electroencephalograph based biofeedback system for improving learning skills, U.S. Pat. No. 6,626,676 B2.), and providing guidance with respect to other goal oriented discussions.
Biofeedback has also apparently not taken advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, which can conceivably be used to guide the feedback signals.
AI has been employed to assist humans in cognitive functioning, but not using biofeedback. For example, the CALO (Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes) project funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has facilities for organizing and prioritizing information, preparing information artifacts, mediating human communications, task management, scheduling and reasoning, and allocating resources. Spin-offs from this project include Siri™ (now an Apple™ product), Social Kinetics, a social application that learned personalized intervention and treatment strategies for chronic disease patients; the Trapit project, which is a web scraper and news aggregator that makes intelligent selections of web content based on user preferences; Tempo AI, a smart calendar, Desti, a personalized travel guide; and Kuato Studios, a game development startup. Yet because CALO applications don't utilize biofeedback, they cannot provide substantially at least near real-time feedback to human users who are seeking cognitive assistance; especially during an interactive discussion.
Thus, although some technologies utilize biofeedback, other technologies assist humans in cognitive functioning, and still other technologies use AI, it appears that no one has so far figured out how to utilize biofeedback to assist humans in their cognitive functioning, let alone using both biofeedback and AI to assist humans in their cognitive functioning.